Flatiron Research Fellow Aavishkar Patel Named Finalist for Blavatnik Regional Award for Young Scientists

The Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) today announced Flatiron Research Fellow Aavishkar Patel as a finalist in the Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists. These awards recognize the excellence of outstanding postdoctoral scientists from institutions in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut working in three categories: life sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and chemical sciences. Winners in each category receive a $30,000 prize and finalists receive a $10,000 prize. A ceremony for winners and finalists will be held at the annual NYAS gala in October.

Patel is honored for his work with ‘strange metals’ — materials that defy the typical rules of electricity. One aim of his research is to understand why these strange metals tend to become superconductors (materials in which electrons flow with zero resistance at low enough temperatures). This work could inform strategies for identifying new kinds of superconductors, which have critical applications in everything from speeding up computer chips to powering MRI technology.

“Postdocs help drive research and innovation forward and are catalysts for new scientific ideas and applied technologies,” said Nicholas B. Dirks, president and CEO of NYAS, in a press release. “We are incredibly proud to announce these outstanding postdoctoral honorees of the 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards, especially during National Postdoc Appreciation Week — a week dedicated to recognizing the important contributions that postdoctoral scholars make to American research and discovery.”

Prior to joining the Flatiron Institute, Patel was a Miller Research Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University.